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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25966072">Breaking the Ice</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jarl_Deathwolf/pseuds/Jarl_Deathwolf'>Jarl_Deathwolf</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, Huddling For Warmth, Mutual Pining, No Plot/Plotless, Post-Reveal Pre-Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Sharing Body Heat, Sharing a Bed, THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 09:33:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,921</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25966072</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jarl_Deathwolf/pseuds/Jarl_Deathwolf</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The gang's plan to spend a week in an Alpine lodge hits a snag when, unbeknownst to Alya and Nino, Marinette and Adrien find out each other's identities. Now it's up to Alya, the power of love, and a freak snowstorm to push past the awkwardness and break the ice.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>294</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Breaking the Ice</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/overworkedunderwhelmed/gifts">overworkedunderwhelmed</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello and welcome to this very special birthday fic that has been three months or so in the making! Sadly Over's birthday came right at the height of me being swamped with the monthly prompts. But I got there eventually! </p><p>I hope you like this belated birthday present, Over! :D</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The kilometers rolled past, putting them farther and farther away from their homes in Paris. Despite the promise of a cozy cabin in the Alpine woods waiting for them in the not-so-distant future, the mood in the car wasn’t the full and bubbling excitement that Alya had hoped for.</p><p>Most of the conversation had been driven by her and Nino, whether it be jamming out to his mix tapes or just talking about recent events. Not that there was much conversation going on right now - a four hour long car ride was enough to take it out of anyone. But for the entire car ride Alya was grinding her teeth at Adrien and Marinette’s seemingly stubborn refusal to talk to each other. </p><p>It had been almost a month since everything changed, their last weeks before they graduated from lycee and were set out into the great wide world. For the last <em>year </em>they’d been planning this - going out to Nino’s uncle’s cabin and spending a week hanging out. Just like old times, in case life conspired to keep them apart. After all, while they had resolved to stay in touch and meet regularly, who could really say for sure when they were all going to different universities? </p><p>Marinette had even gotten over her insecurity and babbling around Adrien! They had become great friends over the years, but then… <em>something</em> happened and they were back to square one. Except now it was even worse because not only was <em>Marinette </em>a mess, so was Adrien! They could barely make eye contact before looking away, blushing like school kids. Which they technically weren’t any more!</p><p>It was disgustingly cute, but also incredibly frustrating. Alya had thought that she had put all of this stuff behind her years ago, even if she was always hoping they’d still end up getting together.</p><p>Smiling mirthlessly, Alya stared ahead as the cabin rolled into view. It had been a while since she’d meddled in Marinette’s love life, but it seemed that if <em>they </em>were going back to their old ways, so should she. A plan began to come together… </p><p>Hopefully the weather would cooperate. </p><p>---------------</p><p>Nino watched the girls head inside with the bare essentials, leaving him and Adrien out here to get the rest while they got everything turned on. He turned around in his seat to look at Adrien as he stretched in the back. </p><p>“So, how are you feelin’ from that long ride, bro?”</p><p>“Not too hot. And not just because of the time in the car,” Adrien said with a shiver. “I knew it was going to be cold, but still.”</p><p>Nino snorted. “Well, maybe getting up off your rich kid butt and helping me out here will warm you up.”</p><p>“If you say so, my oh so worldly best bro.” The two of them chuckled as Adrien got out of the car. </p><p>While they were only staying there for a week, they packed plenty so that they wouldn’t need to make any unnecessary trips to the nearby town. It was good in theory but it did mean that it took multiple trips to get all the suitcases and bags and coolers.</p><p>Plenty of time to chat up his best bud.</p><p>“So what’s up with you, dude?” Nino picked up a suitcase for each hand. “Decided on what you’re going to university for yet?”</p><p>“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Adrien said, rolling his eyes. “Father still wants me to go into business.”</p><p>“Yeah but I didn’t ask what daddio wanted, did I?”</p><p>Adrien sighed. “I’m not entirely sure. I like the idea of becoming a teacher.”</p><p>“You’ve tots got the patience for it.” Nino grinned. “You’re almost as chill a dude as I am.”</p><p>“As long as someone doesn’t try to mess with your playlists or take over the radio.”</p><p>“Driver alone gets that kinda power dude,” Nino said, a solemn air to his words. “You can’t just let <em>anyone </em>go messin’ with that stuff.”</p><p>“Uh huh.” Adrien smirked and hefted a cooler by himself. The dude was stronger than he looked. Maybe all that modeling came with some perks besides the obvious? “My other plan is maybe just…” Adrien seemed a little embarrassed. “...starting a flower shop.”</p><p>“...A flower shop?” </p><p>“Or something like that! Just a little business of my own that has nothing to do with fashion. Where people can’t say that I was only put there because of my father’s connections or whatever.”</p><p>“Flowers, huh?” Nino tapped at his chin, smiling. “Lemme guess - does this have something to do with a certain pigtailed friend of ours?”</p><p>“I- That’s not- No!”</p><p>“How <em>are </em>you two doing anyway, bro? Me and Al have been supes curious about what went down between you two.”</p><p>“What about that movie script you were working on?” Adrien said. “You were pretty far along the last time we talked about it. Did you work out the last few kinks yet?”</p><p>Nino could recognize such an obvious change of topic when he saw one, but he didn’t have the single-minded drive of his girlfriend and let it slide without comment. Besides, he could use Adrien’s help in talking out some of the more difficult parts of the movie’s plot. </p><p>An hour later, just as they’d finished bringing in their stuff and Nino got a good sense of how he wanted his story to go, he looked up at the sky and frowned when he saw the dark clouds and the flurry of snowflakes already coming down.</p><p>Nino closed the garage with the car in it and was thankful that they had already brought in plenty of firewood along with the suitcases. It looked like tonight was going to get chilly.</p><p>------------------</p><p>The four of them had already arrived fairly late into the day, so by the time they had gotten settled in, the sun was beginning to sink over the horizon. The light was made even dimmer by the snowstorm raging outside, its chill only barely pushed back by the roaring fireplace that they were huddled around.</p><p>There were two loveseats in the cabin and when Alya and Nino had taken one, that naturally left the other for him and Marinette. Each pair wrapped up in blankets to keep the cold out and to keep the shared warmth in. </p><p>Of course, they had more than fire to keep themselves warm, Adrien thought as he nonchalantly glanced to his side, toward the woman that was always at his side. Even if he hadn’t known just how true that was until a month ago. Was it good fortune that had made this partner and love interest one of his closest friends outside the mask? Or was it terrible luck, since they had barely managed to spare two sentences for each other ever since they found out?</p><p>Adrien was almost sure that there was a conversation going on, but for the life of him he couldn’t hear it over his pounding heart. Sitting there still as a statue, he was hoping that no one would notice his current state of distress, praying that he could make it through this week in one piece. </p><p>His prayers were immediately not answered since Marinette was slowly but inevitably closing the distance between them. Was it because of the cold? Or was there something else at play here? Either way, his lack of a response - or, at least, him not stopping her - seemed to give her courage as she got ever closer. </p><p>Which would be enough for his poor heart to handle on its own if it weren’t for the fact that once she was about as close as she could get without sitting on his lap, the back of her hand brushed against the back of his. It was enough to make his heart skip a beat. He redoubled his efforts to pay attention to the conversation just as it seemed to be ending.</p><p>Nino yawned and stretched, raising his arms above the warm confines of his blanket as he did so.</p><p>“Well, dudes, looks like I’m gonna pack it in for tonight. All that driving really took it outta me.”</p><p>“I’ll probably head to bed too,” Alya said. “The faster I’m under a warm set of sheets, the better.”</p><p>“Right. So we’ll be heading to our room now.”</p><p>Adrien had a sinking feeling with how they said that and he realized that there was one critical question he had never gotten around to asking during all the time that they had been planning this trip:</p><p>“Where is my room?”</p><p>“Oh, don’t worry, you and M will have the room just down the hall from us!” ALya said with a grin, her head poking around the corner just before disappearing behind it. “Nighty night!” She shouted once she was out of view. </p><p>Adrien’s mouth went dry and he stared at the roaring fireplace for a long moment before turning to look at Marinette, who seemed equally scandalized. With an apologetic shrug and a half grin, he stood up on shaky legs and made his way toward their apparently shared room. </p><p>------------------</p><p>Marinette wasn’t sure how much time had passed, since they had awkwardly crawled into bed and rolled over onto their sides, facing away from each other. The room was quiet except for the muffled sounds of the fire in the other room and the howling winds of the snowstorm outside. Darkness had long since crept in, leaving the room a mess of dark shapes and shadows that moved ever so slightly thanks to the faint, flickering light of the fire coming out from below the bottom of their door. Even with her eyes adjusted to the dark, she couldn’t see much beyond a few inches in front of her face. </p><p>The quiet left her plenty of time to think. Did she move too fast by getting so close to him in front of the fire? She was still a little mad at Alya for trying to force things along like always. She and Adrien were just… going through something right now. They’d get there in their own time!</p><p>...Then again, it had already been a month without any progress. Maybe Alya had handed her a golden opportunity. Was he even still awake? Marinette was the stage of tired where she could feel the exhaustion but knew she would never be able to sleep. Least of all with Adrien <em>right there</em>.</p><p>With nothing else to do, she decided to take a chance and roll over. It seemed that the years of fighting alongside one another had put them in sync since he rolled over at exactly the same time. They suddenly found themselves face to face, so close that she could feel his warm breath on her. </p><p>“Hey,” she said, sounding lame to her own ears.</p><p>“Hey, he said back.</p><p>Marinette bit her lip and tried to find the right words to say. Her thoughts were all mixed up and she struggled to make the first move. </p><p>“I love you,” Adrien blurted out. His cheeks blushed so fiercely she could almost believe they were glowing. It certainly helped her see him in a new light.</p><p>Her eyes soften and she smiles. She scoots closer to him.</p><p>“I love you too.”</p><p>Slowly and hesitantly, fearful that the spell might be broken and this would all prove just a dream, she leaned forward the final few centimeters between them and pressed her lips to his.</p><p>Outside, the storm raged on. But inside, cuddled close together through the night, they stayed warm. </p>
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